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Zoran Ostojić

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Ostojić in 2013

Zoran Ostojić (Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Остојић; born 25 October 1956) is a journalist and politician in Serbia. He was a member of the National Assembly of Serbia from 2008 to 2014, serving for most of this time as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberalno demokratska partija, LDP). He was previously a prominent journalist with RTV Studio B and served as the station's director from February to October 1997.

Early life and journalism career

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Ostojić was born in Ub, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and initially worked at Studio B from 1986 to 1993 as a journalist, editor, and presenter. He left the station in December 1993 and moved to Chicago in the United States of America, where he lived from 1994 to 1997.[1] During this time, Serbia was governed by Slobodan Milošević and his allies; Ostojić was aligned with the country's democratic opposition.

The opposition Zajedno ("Together") alliance won a majority victory in the 1996 Serbian local elections in Belgrade; after an extended standoff, the Milošević government accepted the opposition's victory in February 1997. Ostojić returned from Chicago to Belgrade in February 1997 on being appointed as Studio B director at the nomination of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO), one of the constituent parties in Zajedno.[2][3]

The Zajedno alliance broke up later in 1997, and the SPO formed a new administration in Belgrade through an informal alliance with Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS). Ostojić fell out of favour with the revamped city government; he was dismissed as director on 1 October 1997 and was fired from Studio B outright in December 1997.[4][5] He subsequently formed the breakaway PG Network with other former Studio B journalists. With the fall of the Milošević regime in October 2000 and the landslide victory of the opposition in the 2000 Serbian local elections in Belgrade, Ostojić returned to Studio B, serving as president of its management board from 2000 to 2003.[1]

As of 2021, Ostojić is a columnist for Danas.[6]

Politician

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Ostojić was a member of the Civic Alliance of Serbia (Građanski savez Srbije, GSS) in the mid-2000s. This party contested the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election on the LDP's electoral list, and Ostojić appeared in the 152th position (out of 250). The list won fifteen mandates, and he was not included in his party's delegation.[7] (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Ostojić could have been awarded a mandate despite his low position on the list – which was in any event mostly alphabetical – though in the event he was not.)[8]

The GSS merged into the LDP after the 2007 election. Ostojić appeared on the LDP's list in the 2008 parliamentary election and was awarded a mandate when the list won thirteen seats.[9][10] The results of the election were initially inconclusive, but the For a European Serbia alliance led by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stanka, DS) eventually formed a new government in an alliance with the SPS and other parties, and the LDP served in opposition. Ostojić was a frequent spokesperson for his party on issues related to the state of the Serbian media. In 2011, he accused the DS of attempting to control the country's print media resources.[11]

Serbia's electoral law was reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. The LDP contested the 2012 parliamentary election as part of the Preokret ("U-Turn") alliance; Ostojić appeared on its list in the nineteenth position and was elected to a second term when the alliance won exactly nineteen seats.[12] The Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) formed a new administration after the election with the SPS and other parties, and the LDP continued to serve in opposition. Ostojić was critical of the new government's decision to dismiss Dejan Šoškić as government of the National Bank of Serbia in July 2012.[13] Later in the year, he called for better relations between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo, arguing that the preamble to the Constitution of Serbia should not be an impediment to negotiations.[14]

Ostojić left the LDP parliamentary group in 2013 and formed a civic initiative called the Belgrade Initiative.[15] He aligned this group with the United Regions of Serbia (Ujedinjeni regioni Srbije, URS), appearing in the twenty-eighth position on that party's list in the 2014 parliamentary election.[16][17] The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.

He appeared in the sixteenth position on the United Democratic Serbia (Ujedinjena demokratska Srbija, UDS) list in the 2020 parliamentary election. This list, too, did not cross the threshold to win any mandates.[18]

Ostojić has also sought election in Belgrade on a number of occasions. He appeared on the LDP's list for both the City Assembly of Belgrade and the New Belgrade municipal assembly in the 2008 Serbian local elections, although he did not take a mandate at either level.[19][20] He was elected to the New Belgrade assembly on the Preokret list in the 2012 Serbian local elections after receiving the second position; the list won four seats.[21] He also appeared in the tenth position on the LDP list for the Belgrade city assembly in 2012 and the fourth position on the URS list in 2014 Belgrade City Assembly election.[22][23] Neither of the latter lists crossed the relevant electoral threshold.

References

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  1. ^ a b ZORAN OSTOJIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 13 October 2021.
  2. ^ Caroline Smith, "Belgrade TV station names new bosses," Reuters News, 25 February 1997.
  3. ^ Jane Perlez, "Journalists Prepare to Take on Serb President," New York Times, 27 February 1997, Page 3 Column 1.
  4. ^ "Entire editorial team of Belgrade Studio B news section resigns," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 3 October 1997 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1406 gmt 1 Oct 97.
  5. ^ "Belgrade TV fires three editors for 'not working'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 1 January 1998 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1352 gmt 30 Dec 97).
  6. ^ See for instance Zoran Ostojić, "Nelogičnosti i nedoumice oko Jovanjice", Danas, 5 October 2021, accessed 13 October 2021.
  7. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Либерално демократска партија - Грађански савез Србије - Социјалдемократска унија - Лига социјалдемократа Војводине - Чедомир Јовановић), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 13 October 2021.
  8. ^ Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  9. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЛИБЕРАЛНО ДЕМОКРАТСКА ПАРТИЈА - ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 13 October 2021. Ostojić was given the 162nd position on the list, which was once again mostly alphabetical.
  10. ^ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 8 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Serbian official accused rival party of seeking control over key print media," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 19 December 2011 (source: Text of report by Serbian Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik, on 15 December).
  12. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - ПРЕОКРЕТ Либерално демократска партија, Српски покрет обнове, Социјалдемократска унија, Богата Србија, Војвођанска партија, Демократска партија Санџака, Зелена еколошка партија - зелени, Партија Бугара Србије), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 13 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Serbian govt prepares ground to dismiss central bank head," Reuters News, 31 July 2012.
  14. ^ "Serbian expert says constitution no obstacle to agreements with Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 19 November 2012 (Source: Text of report by Bosnia-based Al-Jazeera Balkans TV on 15 November).
  15. ^ Tamara Spaić & Zlata Đorđević, "Akcija: Dinkić posle Ostojića vrbuje još trojicu poslanika iz LDP", Blic, 12 September 2013, accessed 13 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Former Serbian minister says government negotiating 2bn-3bn-dollar loan with OAE," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 October 2013 (Source: Text of report by Serbian newspaper Politika website on 2 October).
  17. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (УЈЕДИЊЕНИ РЕГИОНИ СРБИЈЕ - МЛАЂАН ДИНКИЋ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 13 October 2021.
  18. ^ ИЗБОРИ ЗА НАРОДНЕ ПОСЛАНИКЕ НАРОДНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, 21. ЈУН 2020. ГОДИНЕ Изборне листе (УЈЕДИЊЕНА ДЕМОКРАТСКА СРБИЈА (Војвођански фронт, Србија 21, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Странка модерне Србије, Грађански демократски форум, ДСХВ, Демократски блок, Заједно за Војводину, Унија Румуна Србије, Војвођанска партија, Црногорска партија)), Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 16 June 2020.
  19. ^ For the 2008 local elections, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (2007), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 129/2007); made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. Simonović did not automatically receive a mandate by virtue of leading the list.
  20. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 12 (30 April 2008), pp. 4, 16. He received the second position at the city level and the lead position at the municipal level. For the list of elected members at both levels, see Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 24 (15 July 2008), pp. 1-2; and Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 26 (1 August 2008), pp. 7-8.
  21. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 56 Number 21 (25 April 2012), p. 44; Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 56 Number 36 (13 June 2012), p. 6.
  22. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 56 Number 21 (25 April 2012), p. 7.
  23. ^ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 58 Number 15 (5 March 2014), p. 9.
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